INGREDIENTS:
4 Bananas (go for firm but ripe ones)
1 egg
2oz/60g Plain Flour
4tblspns/60ml water
6tblspns/90g Sugar
3tblspns/45ml Oil
2tblspns/30ml Water
Bowl of Iced Water
Oil for Deep Frying at 180c
Peel and cut bananas into bite sized chunks
Blend flour, egg and water to make a smooth batter.
Dip banana chunks into batter and deep fry several at a time for 2-3 minutes until golden. Drain and keep warm.
Heat the sugar, oil and water and cook for about 5mins until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn up the heat and cook for about 5 minutes until the sugar starts to caramelise.
Stir in the syrup and heat for a further 2 minutes.
Add the fried bananas and stir slowly, covering each piece with syrup.
Quickly spoon the hot syrup covered bananas into the bowl of iced water to harden the syrup.
Remove quickly and serve.

Last week Daisie started a new craze by purchasing photoshop cs4 and had posted her wonderful first results, so of course me being me i was curious and downloaded the trial and had a go too, wow the resuls and capabilities of this program knock the socks off paintshop pro by far, for my first try i done a text signature as it took me ages to work out how it was done lol, then i tried a vector from a tutorial at psd, then our chip aka elaine seen it and wanted to try too and shes storming ahead on the stakes lol, heres a few of our examples, not bad for first timers may i add 🙂

below is daisies as always click on the image too see the full effect.

COCONUT ICE
Ingredients:
340g desiccated coconut
340g icing sugar
400g tin of condensed milk
Optional pink food colouring
Place the condensed milk into a bowl and add the icing sugar beat well, then mix in the desiccated coconut. The mixture will get firm and difficult to stir but persevere until everything is all combined.
Divide the mixture into two (add optional food colouring’s to each) and spread into an 8inch square tin giving two coloured layers and allow to set overnight
Cut into small cubes and spread on a sheet of greaseproof paper to dry slightly.

Here Comes Santa

Watchdog has discovered a stinky issue with a range of football boots made by the biggest name in sportswear, Nike.

You might expect a pair of football boots to start smelling after you’ve had them for a while. But Watchdog has received complaints about Nike’s Mercurial and Total 90s ranges that start to produce a very unpleasant odour after their first use.

Made popular by footballers such as Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, Nike’s Total 90 and Mercurial ranges can cost anywhere up to and over £100.

Matt Vickers is the goalie for the Hatch Warren Saints under 13s in Basingstoke. He bought his Total 90 trainers for £50. They started smelling after the first time he wore them which was on a wet day.

We had to drive with the windows open
We weren’t sure whether one of us hadn’t had a bath, it was so bad. We had to drive with the windows open, it was really pungent” Matt’s dad, Mark explained.

Matt says that a lot of the guys at training had been laughing at the smell. He has now lost faith in Nike because of the stink they’ve caused.

Matt Jones from Burton upon Trent was badgering his dad all summer to get him a new pair of Total 90s to kick off the season in. He noticed the smell after the first one or two games.

It smelt like cat wee
He says: “I got accused of keeping the cat in my bedroom because it smelt like cat wee.”

When Matt’s family finally worked out the smell was coming from the shoes, they took drastic action, banning the shoes from the house. Eventually they couldn’t bear it any longer and they forked out another £40 for a new pair by a different brand.

We took Matt’s pair of football trainers to Nike’s flagship store to find out what the public thought of the smell. One person said: “They smell like they’re old and someone has had their feet in them for years.”

We’ve also discovered that the disgusting smell can start even in shoes that have never been worn. We wet a brand new pair of Total 90s and left them out to dry for four days. When we returned after four days the trainers smelt very strong.

This shouldn’t happen. Other boots and trainers can be soaked right through the season and even put in the washing machine without smelling this bad.

To find out what’s causing the smell, we took the boots to Kevin Guildford who is one of the UK’s leading footwear specialists.

According to our expert, what’s causing the smell is surprisingly not people’s feet. It’s the materials that are used in the footwear.

Nike has told one angry customer the problem started because they replaced some of the man-made lining just under the laces with a cotton canvas.

Kevin says that when the cotton canvas gets wet, it rots. The moisture can’t escape because the man-made materials around the cotton don’t allow it to breath.

Nike says that the quality of its products and customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to them.

When Watchdog contacted Nike, the company told us:
“We have seen a very small number of cases where boots start to smell (distinctly beyond the normal smells from sweat, rain or prolonged usage after football). While this does not affect the performance of the product, we understand the inconvenience it causes in those isolated instances where it occurs.

“We are continuing to explore the exact cause so we can ensure that the problem doesn’t occur moving forward. As with all our products we encourage people to ensure they appropriately clean and care for their boots. However, in the isolated instances where this problem has occurred, we recommend returning the product to the retailer where the footwear was purchased, be that a Nike store or another retailer, where a refund or replacement will be offered.”

Nike also apologises for any inconvenience experienced by consumers.

I have 3 boys who all where nike trainers and we thought he smell was coming from our cat turns out its nikes fault. has anyone else had this problem?